How we travel

Whenever Linda and I are planning a camping trip we usually use 1 of three different ways to travel and camp. As I have mentioned before, we like to go on extended walking holidays. This means hiking with a back pack and carrying everything we need in our packs.

Modern hiking equipment is very different to what used to be available. Tents, sleeping gear and cooking equipment, nowadays are compact, lightweight and affordable. Especially if you only intend to do short walks.

We find this is a great way to get back to basics, and with careful gear selection we do not miss out on simple comforts.

We also like touring by road, but once again depending on where we are going, will depend on what we take. We recently went on a road called the Binns track. It was about 1800 klms long and consisted of a mixture of rough 4wd sections and open highway.

While we would have loved to take our caravan, the 4wd sections meant that was out of the question. We had also planned to cross The Simpson Desert on the same trip but that also meant no caravan.

For general camping we always look carefully at what we will need on a day to day basis and take what we need accordingly. Because of the distances we had to travel, we had to carry extra fuel and water. So, for this trip I added a roof rack.

When loading a roof rack, it is important to not be tempted to put heavy item up on top as it can make the vehicle top heavy, and when traversing uneven ground, could cause a roll over

So, with some planning and careful packing the rest of our gear fitted easily into the Defender.

Of course, we also like caravanning. Now I built my own caravan, and I designed it to be a strong small van, and able to be towed over terrain that a normal caravan simply would not be able to traverse.

Therefore, unless we plan on going on tracks that are strictly no go for caravans, then that’s what we take. It has the advantage of being quite comfortable while compact, and still having everything we need on board.

Of course, other people will have different ideas from us when camping or caravanning, because it really is an individual thing that everyone will want to do according to their own tastes or needs.

So, what’s next? I want to start taking you to some special places we have visited that you will really enjoy. Some of them will be easy to reach with conventional vehicles and others will need a serious 4WD. But they are all part of caravanning and camping in Australia.

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